Peanut Allergies: Learning To Cope
Allergic reactions appear from many types of materials present in everyday surroundings. But among the more common causes of allergies are food products, with eight of them causing over ninety percent of all food allergies.
A peanut allergy is something quite troubling because some everyday dishes have peanuts among their ingredients.
Even household products contain peanut powders or extracts.
Being allergic to peanuts often manifests early in life, but while most allergies are outgrown as children grow up and get used to the food proteins in other allergen types, peanut allergies are often carried until adulthood. You can also find reactions to peanuts from mild up to having an anaphylactic reaction, which can be life-threatening.
Symptoms of Peanut Allergies
Within minutes, a manifestation of peanut allergies will begin to appear, whether coming from stomach pain along with vomiting or diarrhea, or skin rashes and hives breaking out on the skin, you can feel when you’ve become exposed to hazardous material when you have a peanut allergy.
It’s bad enough when you have to deal with those things when you get exposed to peanuts, but it can be lethal when you factor in anaphylaxis, and your air tract will close up, you’ll have difficulty breathing, and possibly have to deal with shock and dizziness.
Peanut Allergy Triggers
In an allergic reaction to peanuts, the body will recognize peanuts as a threat and signal the body to produce histamines which will trigger the allergic response in the body.
Three methods of exposure are possible when it comes to peanut infection. The first would be direct contact with the material in question, like eating food containing peanuts for example. Even just touching could trigger an allergic reaction.
The second would be a cross-contact with peanuts wherein a product without peanut content will accidentally mix in peanut powder or proteins in it. The third would be contacted through airborne peanut
materials, like inhaling peanuts in a powder form. Another common route would be from aerosols with peanuts in it.
Things You Can Do When Peanut Allergies Occur
Your family doctor will be able to see if your symptoms are allergy-related or through some other cause. As much as possible, you’ll want to see your doctor while the symptoms are still manifest on your
skin or body.
A skin prick test from your local allergist will confirm if you do have an allergy to peanuts, and the test will isolate the area of your skin where you come into contact with the peanut allergen. Blood tests can also be done during this time to see how your immune system reacts with peanut proteins.
Unfortunately, there is no one-size solution to solve peanut allergies, apart from avoiding the material entirely. If you have mild reactions to your peanut allergy, there still might be some possibility that your reaction can become severe at one time so you’ll need to prepare for that eventuality.
Living with peanut allergies can be done, however, and you can discuss options with your doctor for your particular case, and get whatever treatment and screening tests are appropriate for your allergies. You’d also be better off knowing exactly what to do when a reaction occurs.
